City of Lone Star joins the stand against Lake O’ the Pines water sale

Publishers Note: Even though Lake O’ the Pines is not accessible to Cass County it does connect through the Cass County town Avinger, and Northeast Texas, water sales and usage will affect water usage and industry. Moreover, The NETMWD’s primary water source is Lake O’ the Pines, which was created to reduce flooding in Jefferson. The Journal-Sun continues to stay in close contact with other area papers to share resources and information.

During a Lone Star city council meeting on Thursday, February 20, the council and Mayor Brianna McClain took an hour to hear out the people and ultimately approved the decision to stand in opposition of the Lake O’ the Pines potential sale or lease of water.

The Lone Star Fire Department had full occupancy as dozens of Morris County residents and even from surrounding counties came to voice their opposition of the possible water sale.

One of the people who came was Laura-Ashley Overdyke, Executive Director of Caddo Lake Institute (CLI). Caddo Lake is reliant on the water that flows from the Lake O’ the Pines and Overdyke explained that water sales have been done before, but this deal would harm the area, “We don’t care if you make money off water, we don’t care if you sell a reasonable amount of water, but if it’s gonna harm Caddo Lake, that’s a problem. Caddo Lake does not have any protection. Your water rights are protected, but the lake is not protected, so we have reasonable concerns based on 20-years of detailed in-stream flow science that tells us there is a reason to be concerned.”

According to studies that Overdyke brought to the meeting, the historic lake level in Caddo Lake would have been another foot lower if this sale had been in place. The lake is only six-feet deep, so one foot would be a huge percentage. CLI also simulated that during a drought, it would only leave half of the water needed for downstream.

Nelson Roach, a resident of Morris County and also the owner of Roach Law in Daingerfield, talked about the work he has put into helping Lake O’ the Pines, “I have received land steward awards from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Association and I’ve received the highest award that can be received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Association for work I have done on my property, which is the watershed for the headwaters for Lake O’ the Pines. I have literally spent millions of dollars improving the watershed to improve the water that goes into your lake. I did not do that so that the water could be sold to the Dallas metro flats.”

Roach went on to say that this potential water sale to the North Texas Municipal Water District is not in the best interest of the people of Northeast Texas, “If you separate the water from the land, the land will be a wasteland. I promise you. We know the Northeast Texas Municipal District has sold water. But who did they sell the water to? Our neighbors. Our economy. The idea that just because we sold water to someone else means that we can now sell a whole bunch more water to a completely different water basin 100 miles away– if you take it away, you’re not going to get it back.”

After hearing from multiple residents, the council unanimously approved the resolution to oppose the Lake O’ the Pines potential sale or lease of water.

From the council agenda, here are items approved: Purchase of a dump trailer for Public Works Department, Purchase of a light tower for Public Works, using ARPA funds, Camera installation in City Hall, Enter contract with Charles Riley for wastewater services, Purchase automatic flush stations to assist with flushing requirements, Approval of cash handling procedures for EDC, Approval of by-laws for EDC, Signing of memorandum for Oil and Gas lease and Appointing Corri Roberts as Interim City Secretary.